The OpenReal Headphones from Tozo are affordable, wireless, open air headphones that are designed to provide solid audio and call quality, without obstructing the user’s hearing. My review:
The OpenReal are open air headphones, meaning they are headphones that do not cover, seal, block or impede the users ability to hear their surroundings. These function by essentially acting like small speakers that hang just above the ear. Small 16.2 mm dynamic drivers direct the audio into the ear canal. The biggest benefit to this design is that the user can enjoy high quality audio while staying aware of their surroundings.
The OpenReal is a single piece wireless headphone that wraps around the back of the head, with small hooks that loop over the top of each ear. Each driver is suspended above the ear canal by these small, flexible hooks. The body is mostly plastic with a rubbery soft touch coating, with an internal metal band that runs through the length of the unit for structural integrity, stability and flexibility. There are two physical buttons located on the underside of the unit that control volume and power by either pressing or holding the button down. There is a small capacitive touch panel located on the right side of the unit that allows for call answering and other functions. Charging is via an included USB cable with a magnetic connection that snaps to the underside of the headphones. The OpenReal supports Bluetooth 5.3, has 15 hours battery life, has an IPX8 rating, and are currently listed at $49.99.
What I liked
Being an open air headphone, these do allow the user to hear his/her surroundings quite well, even at moderate volumes. The drivers don’t block or impede the ear canal at all, making them viable for situations where situational awareness is important, like jogging, biking, or just working in the office or around the house. I found that I could hear footsteps, cars, other bike tires, and even birds and animals while listening to music or podcasts. Cranking the volume up, these can absolutely drown out sound, just like speakers, but at moderate or low volumes it’s not an issue.
One thing that surprised me with the OpenReal was the sound quality. At this price, these sound quite excellent. They’re clean, clear, and responsive with an excellent and accurate reproduction across almost all frequencies. The acoustic response is surprisingly flat, with the bass and mids coming through at similar levels. There is some drop-off in the high frequencies, which I honestly prefer, but nothing is really lost there. The bass is far better represented than I expected with a full reproduction that reaches very low into the frequency range, and with great volume. The sub bass does roll off pretty hard, so those deepest notes may be subtle or just not thump and rattle, but this is typical for open air or open back headphones. Surprisingly though, these provide a fuller, richer bass than similar headphones I’ve tested that cost 4 times as much, although it is less refined and clear as a tradeoff. However, the bass is still refined enough to be enjoyable for the purists. The mids and treble are very clear, especially vocals, and provide excellent channel separation and imaging. As the drivers are actually sitting outside of the ear with an inward angle, the soundstage can be massive. Tones can sound like they’re coming from deep inside a room, beside, behind and even above the listener, which is terrific for well mixed music. The overall sound profile comes across as fun, lively, but not punchy, sharp or fatiguing. It’s a very pleasant sound that I can listen to these all day.
Not only can I listen to these all day, I can wear them all day as well. Instead of being shoved into the ear, the drivers gently rest just above and off the ear, so there is very little physical contact there. What contact is there is very subtle and gentle. Just a light touch. To stay in place, the soft, flexible bands wrap around the top of the ear and sit comfortably there instead. Combine this with the soft touch coating, extremely lightweight construction, and the flexible materials that extend all the way to the drivers, and they really do feel great to wear. My only one improvement I could suggest would be to make the ear loops, at least the section that sits behind the ear, even thinner. This would reduce even more pressure while simultaneously improving their comfort with glasses.
The construction quality is very good. The materials, despite being lightweight, have been holding up great. The headband flexes and always instantly returns to its original form, while the soft touch coating and paint is holding up well. Despite using them for biking, hiking and around the house and office, I’m yet to see any rear wear. What little plastic exists on the units is sturdy and firm, holding its shape under pressure and twisting. The seams are all smooth, consistent, and have no visible gaps or mold/forming issues. I’m quite pleased with it here.
Battery life is good. I’ve been seeing between 8 and 12 hours use with them (I’m estimating), which is solid for something this light weight. Charging is fast and easy via a very short, proprietary cable that magnetically locks into place. The cable could be longer, but it’s not a big deal.
IPX8 water proofing means it will survive sweat, splashing and a very short dunk in shallow water. There is no dust rating, however.
These pair well with helmets, goggles and glasses.
The app allows for firmware updates and some decent EQ options, including a custom EQ.
Pricing is great. They seem to retail for $49.99 but are currently listed on sale at $119 and have been for weeks. This may be an introductory price or just the company testing the waters to see what they can actually sell them at. So I’m not sure what the real price is, but Amazon has them at $49. At $49 it’s a fantastic buy. At $119 they’re still good, but not amazing.
What I didn’t like
I have found the controls to be a bit hit or miss. Controls are handled by two physical buttons and a touch panel. The two physical buttons that control volume, skips track, and can turn the unit on and off can be used to pair the device (long hold from shutdown). The touch panel can be used to pause a track or call on a digital assistant. The volume controls work fine. However, skipping a track and turning the headset off are both assigned to holding in the volume up button. A short hold will skip the track while a long hold will turn off the headset. I found that I often turn the unit off when I’m trying to skip a track, and vice versa. The long hold also skips tracks before turning off the unit, as both long and short hold controls are triggered. So, if I wanted to just turn the headset off and later continue the track where I left off, I couldn’t do that. The only workaround is to pause the track on the phone first, then use the power button. The touch pad is fine, taking a very deliberate press to pause and a long press to launch the assistant. I didn’t have any issues here. However, double and triple taps seem to do nothing. If they do, I can’t get them to work. Holding volume down does…something? It beeps but I have no idea what is actually happening. The tones for turning the device on and off are also very similar, so it’s often hard to tell what command is actually being triggered when long pressing the button. Due to this I’ve accidentally left the headset on for many hours in between uses, only to discover the battery near dead when I went to turn it back on, because it was already on. This all sounds pretty dire, but it’s not entirely bad. With some practice it is manageable, especially if you’re just using the volume and power buttons. Still, it needs some tweaking.
The Tozo app requires a sign in to use. Sign in requires registration, and registration requires the input of a confirmation code that is sent to your email address. The issue here is that code is generated and emailed, and has a short 60 second timer until it expires. That same 60 seconds also requires you to input your password twice on that screen. My confirmation emails were filtered as junk, making it hard for me to retrieve, copy, switch apps, input and clear the password screen all within the 60 second timer. Once I was finally able to validate my way through the timed obstacle course, the app crashed during sign in. I managed to get through on the second attempt. Once the app is working, it doesn’t allow for touch or button control adjustments, which is a bummer. This all needs some work.
The proprietary charging cable is a slight bummer. These aren’t unusual in this space but I do not see a replacement cable as available to purchase. Hopefully customer service would come through, in the event it was lost, but I haven’t verified that yet. Would much prefer a standard USB C connection in this situation. This connection does, however, aid in water proofing and size. So it isn’t all lost.
I wish the volume could be turned down a little lower, by a couple levels. Even at its lowest volume the OpenReal can drown out some voices and world noise. This is challenging for conversation, road crossings, or when just trying to stay aware of absolutely everything going on in the environment. It’s way safer than traditional headphones, but a lower volume floor would be an improvement.
Overall
I have some complaints about the Tozo OpenReal. However, none of that really detracts from my experience while actually listening to the headphones. These sound really nice. They’re warm, inviting, have good energy and the clarity is great for the price range, assuming they stay at the $49 price point. I absolutely love the positioning and imaging of sounds and music, as the instruments and voices seem to dance around in the room, sounding much more like actual objects or large speakers placed in the room than tiny headphones. They’re lightweight, comfortable, and assuming the pricing sticks, an excellent value. The app needs some changes and I would love to be able to modify the controls, but otherwise, these are solid.
Highly Recommended
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